YouTube Transcript API

One request in, the full transcript out. Pay only for the videos you fetch.

Quickstart

Sign in and create an API key on the API dashboard. You get 10 free credits (5 transcripts).
Send the key in the X-API-Key header with a YouTube URL or video ID.
Buy a credit pack when you need more, or turn on auto top-up.

curl -X POST https://sum.video/api/v1/transcript \
  -H "X-API-Key: sv_live_your_key" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ", "lang": "en"}'

Request

POST /api/v1/transcript

url: YouTube URL (watch, youtu.be, shorts, embed or live link). Use this or video_id.
video_id: The 11 character YouTube video ID.
lang: Preferred caption language, for example en, de or pt-BR. Defaults to en. When that language is missing, the original track is returned and the response tells you its real language.
format: json (segments with timestamps, default), text or srt.

import requests

response = requests.post(
    "https://sum.video/api/v1/transcript",
    headers={"X-API-Key": "sv_live_your_key"},
    json={"video_id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ", "lang": "en", "format": "text"},
    timeout=120,
)
print(response.json()["text"])

const response = await fetch("https://sum.video/api/v1/transcript", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: { "X-API-Key": process.env.SUMVIDEO_API_KEY, "Content-Type": "application/json" },
  body: JSON.stringify({ url: "https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ" }),
});
const { segments, credits_remaining } = await response.json();

Response

{
  "video_id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "language": "en",
  "is_generated": false,
  "credits_used": 2,
  "credits_remaining": 98,
  "segments": [
    { "text": "We're no strangers to love", "offset": 18.64, "duration": 3.24 }
  ]
}

Errors

401	invalid_key	Missing, wrong or revoked API key.
400	invalid_input	The URL or video ID could not be read.
402	insufficient_credits	Your balance is below 2 credits.
402	budget_exceeded	You reached the monthly credit limit you set.
404	no_transcript	The video has no captions, or it is private, live or removed. Not charged.
429	rate_limited	More than 60 requests per minute on one key. Wait for Retry-After seconds.
502	upstream_error	YouTube did not answer in time. Not charged, retry later.

Check your balance

curl https://sum.video/api/v1/credits -H "X-API-Key: sv_live_your_key"

Pricing

Every transcript costs 2 credits. Credits never expire. Pro subscribers get 100 bonus credits every month.

Pack	Credits	Transcripts	Price	Per transcript
Starter	100	50	$4.49	$0.090
Pro	500	250	$13.99	$0.056
Scale	2,000	1,000	$37.99	$0.038
Business	5,000	2,500	$74.99	$0.030

Auto top-up, budgets and alerts

Auto top-up buys a pack with your saved card when your balance drops below a threshold you choose.
A monthly top-up budget caps how much auto top-up can spend, and a monthly credit limit stops requests when reached.
Email alerts tell you when your balance runs low, when you reach 80% of your monthly limit, or when a top-up fails.

Limits and fair use

60 requests per minute per key, up to 5 active keys per account. The API returns captions that already exist on YouTube; it does not transcribe audio. You are responsible for using transcripts in line with the rights of the video owners and YouTube's terms.

FAQ

Do I pay again for the same video?: Yes, each successful request costs 2 credits, but repeated videos are answered from our cache in milliseconds.
What happens when a video has no captions?: You get a no_transcript error and no credits are taken.
Is it compatible with other transcript APIs?: The request and response follow the common url, lang and segments shape, so switching usually means changing the base URL and the key.